That's News to Me
by HisSingertoo
Summary: What really happened when Jacob phased in front of Charlie?  I have a theory . . . another one-shot for your reading pleasure.


**THAT'S NEWS TO ME**

A Work of Fan Fiction by

P. R. Poston

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns these characters and the original story line. I'm just playing around, filling in an idea of what might have happened where she didn't tell us. No infringement intended.

Charlie had already been up for an hour. He'd dressed and made pancakes for breakfast, mumbling to himself as he tossed the first two. He missed Bella's cooking. She never burned the pancakes. He always messed up at least the first two as he made coffee and had that first sip. _Gotta have that first sip of that first cup or the day is going to be a real pain_ he thought to himself. It didn't matter if he was chasing criminals, like those Jenson twins who liked to tag garage doors, or Johnson's cows because the fence was breached again, or just enjoying his day off fishing—he had to have that first cup of coffee.

_Danged paperboy. Missed the porch again._ He carefully separated the soggy pages, skimming the headlines. The paper was always dry at the station, walked in and dropped off at the reception desk, but here at home, even bagged, it got wet. It was only the second week of September and it was already raining today. Fishing would be hard in the rain. Maybe he'd just stay home. A good game was on this afternoon. He needed to do a load of laundry too.

He was nearly finished with both the paper and his second cup of coffee when there was a knock at the door.

**JPOV**

"God, how can he sleep through all that racket?" the near silent whisper sneaked into her ear.

My mind popped awake, instantly back in the conscious world. But I didn't let on yet. I knew he was referring to me. I knew what he was talking about. It was already pretty hot and heavy in the cottage before I finally curled up in the corner last night. But that was Bella and Edward's business. Not mine. Not since my Nessie.

"Shh," Rosalie whispered back just as quietly. "You'll wake him. No need for that yet."

Their whispers were barely a sound at all, but I don't think they knew I could still hear at such a low level. They all tend to forget my ears are so much more sensitive than theirs are. I can hear really well when I'm human, but all those great wolf senses are so much better. That's why I always go to sleep wolf in this house. I don't need more than a split second to become fully alert. If I was human, I'd need two split seconds, one to awaken, the second to phase. I can't risk that extra second at all. The Cullens and wolves might be friends now, and I'm imprinted on Nessie, but a leech is still a leech. They've got friend leeches too. Not all of their friends are as friendly, if you get my drift.

"I wonder if they've discussed where we should go next," whispered Rosalie. Emmett answered with just two words: "New Hampshire."

"I'm not so sure if that's the right place, but they are supposed to be starting Dartmouth. At least she could still do a correspondence course or two, and Carlisle is already on staff there. And, letters to Charlie and Renee would have the right postmarks." Rosalie seemed so smug. "I know she's showing great control, but she'll break if we push her too fast. She can't handle a crowd yet, just us."

Nessie awoke with her usual bubbly coo. Rosalie was already holding her. I flicked my ear, kind of a signal that I was "nearly" awake. I stretched and whined, and did a reflective scratch behind my ear. I didn't need to scratch, but I knew Ness would be watching for it. She giggled now. That was my cue. I jumped up, ran outside and around the house, phased back human, dressed and was back inside in less than 30 seconds.

"Good Morning, Beautiful," I said as I ran by Rose, scooping up Nessie as I passed. "How's my favorite girl, today? Did you sleep well? Are you hungry? Hey, Blondie, where's her bottle?" Before I got the last question passed my lips, she was already "showing" me her answers. Nessie's pictures told me, yes, it was morning, and she is beautiful but she never tires of me saying it. She knows she is my favorite and she slept very well, thank you. As for hungry, yes, she was but she was waiting for Mama first.

I wouldn't say anything about her last picture. I could tell Mama would still be at home, for a while yet.

I sat on the couch and put Nessie on the floor at the edge of her blanket. She crawled to the center and held her hands out to Rose. This meant she needed toys so Rose went in search of something new. She came back with some really old spoons.

I started to really think about what they had just said. I knew they would need to leave soon, or there would be problems, but I couldn't leave La Push, and I couldn't leave Ness and it would be like death to have her taken away from me. Charlie was the only reason they would leave now. He couldn't find out about all of this. Or could he?

I started for the door, blew a kiss to Nessie, and told them I'd be back in a little while. I was undressed, phased and running within another 30 seconds. I didn't push this run. I love to run all the time, but the early morning is best if you can take it slow enough to enjoy the clean, fresh scents of the new day. The forest is great when it's dew-covered.

Still, in less than 10 minutes, I was phased again to human, dressed, and knocking on Charlie's door. It was early, barely dawn, but Charlie was always up early. Best fishing is early, plus it gives you time to watch the games in the afternoon. The two bests of Charlie's pleasure world. I had to catch him before he decided today would be a good fishing day.

Charlie was already smiling when he opened the door, having seen it was me through the glass panes that made up most of it. The top hinge creaked a little as the door swung fully open.

"Hey, Jake. This is a nice surprise. Kinda early . . . is everything okay with Billy?"

"Yeah, Dad's fine. Charlie, I need to talk to you, tell you . . . uh . . . show you something."

"Well, can it wait? I was just finishing up breakfast. Hey, are you hungry? I can mix up some more pancakes."

"Nah, I'm good for now. Don't go to any trouble. But I need you to take a little walk with me. Just up the forest trail a little. I've got something to show you, and some news about Bella."

"Bella? Why didn't you say so?" Charlie grabbed his jacket off the hook by the door, pulled the door shut and was down the stairs in no time at all. He swung his jacket on to one arm and then the other as he walked.

"What's happening with Bella, Jake? I can't seem to get any straight answers from anybody. The Cullens have taken her out of town to Atlanta, she's still sick, she sounds awful on the phone, or else I get nowhere when I try to call. I keep bugging Esme, but she doesn't know what's up either."

"Well, uh, they know a little more than they want to say, but I'll get to that in a few minutes. First, you gotta see this. Stop right there," I said, holding up one hand, palm out, to stop his continuing along. "That's good. Now, just don't freak out on me, okay?"

With that said, I jumped behind a bush, stripped and . . .

"Jake, what the hell do you think you're doing? Put your damned pants back on, son. I'm not into that kind of thing, and, even if I was, it wouldn't be with you."

"Charlie, settle down. Watch this first." I bent over and phased. Charlie stood there, I saw his eyes go wide as I landed my front paws on the ground, and then he turned a strange shade of green. I held position for just a few seconds and phased back. He looked like he was going to pass out, so, as I phased back, I stepped forward to catch him in case he fell.

He instantly raised his hands up, arms bent at the elbow, to stop me. I grabbed my pants and dressed in that split second again. He changed color to red, then got kind of pale, went green again, and then he started to breathe again in a big whoosh. Wow. That was a long time to hold your breath for an old guy. Slowly, very slowly, his color returned to normal. But he was still stunned.

I stepped forward again, put my arm around his shoulders, turned him around, and helped him back along the path. By the forest's end, he was walking unassisted and we headed back to the house.

"**WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT—YOU—JUST NOW?"** Charlie yelled. **"ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A DAMNNED STROKE?"**

"I'm sorry I had to do this, but I thought it was the best way. Charlie, you don't live in the world you thought you lived in. The good news is, nothing has changed—except that now you know. Life'll go on the same way it always has. You can go right back to pretending that you don't believe any of this."

By then, we were back in the house. I could see he needed to clear the table and wash the dishes, but the most he could do was sit down in his chair at the kitchen table. He took a drink of his coffee. I could tell it was cold, but he didn't even flinch. I quickly cleared the table for him, stacking the dishes in the sink, and made a fresh pot of coffee. Maybe some fresh hot caffeine would snap him out of this . . . this weird look on his face. It was the least I could. I wondered if Harry had looked like that when he had his heart attack. I might have been a little rash, but it was over and done. Now came the easy part.

I paced around that little kitchen, two steps this way, two steps back, over and over. As light as I am on my feet, I thought I was going to wear a path in the linoleum tiles. The coffee took forever. Not really. But it felt like it. Finally, I was able to set a fresh cup in front of him. Mechanically, he picked up the cup, took a sip, set the cup down, and picked it right up again. God, I was dying here. I was getting worried. I was just about ready to call my Dad when he finally thawed out.

"I'm sorry, Charlie, but I didn't know what else I could do. But you handled it pretty good."

"**I handled it . . . but I won't say it was good."** He was still pretty loud, but at least he wasn't yelling this time.

"Calm down, Charlie. Drink some more coffee. It seemed to help just a minute ago."

Charlie took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll calm down, but you're going to tell me everything, right now. You hear me? _**Everything**_. You said you had news about Bella. Spill. Now!"

"Sure, sure. Well, you know how Bella's been sick with some rare disease she picked up on their honeymoon? Bella really was sick, but she's fine now. But, to get better, she had to change a little."

"What do you mean 'change'?"

"Well . . . she looks a lot more like Esme now than she did Renee."

Uh-oh. Charlie was looking a little weird again. He drank some more coffee, took a few deep breaths.

"Does she turn into an animal, too?" Charlie asked, barely whispering.

"Nah. She wishes she was that cool! You see, Charlie, I'm a werewolf, and it's been in me since birth, a part of my . . ."

"AHHH! THAT'S ENOUGH! I'd rather not know the specifics. But, tell me, did Bella know this was going to happen? That she would change?"

"Sure, she did. She's known all about this for years, since she first came to Forks."

"**Of all the . . . damned . . . fool . . . stupid . . . crazy . . . stupid . . . what in hell was she thinking? And that damned Edward Cullen! He did this! My poor baby girl. How will I ever . . . !"** Charlie seemed to loose all the steam out of his rant. He drank some more of his coffee, wiped his hand down his face, and sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

"Okay, Jake, I want two things, now, today."

"You name it, Charlie."

"I want to see Bella, and I want to be told as little as possible about all of this stuff. 'Need to know', only. The less I know, the better I'll like it. Me, I'm going to pretend everything is normal."

"Done and done. And, Charlie . . . there's still a little more."

The scowl on Charlie's face was pure CIA—Cop. In. Action. "Now what?" he demanded.

"Well . . . Bella and Edward . . . have inherited . . . a new little mouth to feed."

"What? A mouth to feed? You didn't say 'pet'. Do you mean a child?"

"Yes, Charlie, a child, a little girl. An orphaned ward."

"An orphaned ward?" He seemed to ponder this for a moment before he continued firing off the questions. "Are they adopting her? Like a daughter? Like I'm sort of a grandfather?"

"Yeah. Congrats, Gramps!" Charlie smiled at that.

"She's so special. More special than all of us put together. Trust me, you don't want to know about this, but if you can ignore all the strange parts, you're going to be amazed. She's the most wonderful person in the whole world." I know I was beaming. I was talking about my Nessie.

"And, Charlie . . ."

"Yeah?" said Charlie, still smiling.

"Charlie, if you can deal with this, they'll stick around for a while, you'll have a chance to get to know her, but if it's too much for you, then they'll leave."

Another shocked look flashed across Charlie's face as the smile fell away, and then he sobered again. "As long as no one forces too much information on me, I'll deal. Let's go. I want to see Bella."

"Give me a few minutes head start. Sit, have another cup of coffee. I need to let them know you're coming. But don't worry. I've got your back, Charlie. I'll be there with you the whole time."

"Thanks, Jake. Uh, does your dad know about you?"

I kind of snorted and chuckled at the same time. "Yeah, he does. He's always known. Bloodline, remember?" No, he didn't remember. He'd cut me off before I could tell him that part. Just as well. It could come later, more slowly. I stopped just inside the tree line to undress and phase again. I heard Charlie, still sitting at the table, mumbling to himself, "damned fool kids. Dear God, give me strength."

**CPOV**

"Damned fool kids. Dear God, give me strength. I've got a lot to deal with in just a few minutes and I think I might be loosing my mind. Either that or I'm still sleeping. But I don't think so. I can see the burned pancakes in the trash and I can taste the fresh, hot, coffee Jake make for me. Yeah, about that . . ."

Charlie continued to sit in his chair. He drained his cup, got up and poured another one. He sat back down. He took his time, finished this cup and then got up again. He carried his cup to the sink. He'd wait to do dishes later. _I just might start throwing them if he washed them now_, he thought.

He went to the door, noticed he was still wearing his jacket, so he pulled his car keys out of his pants pocket as he opened the door, closing it securely behind him. He walked down his front steps and got in his police cruiser. _If I drive the cruiser today, they'll know I mean business. I can always make official._ Charlie had an extra gun in a lock box in the trunk. _I wonder if I can kill them. Not that I'm going to try, but is it possible? Geesh, I guess I will need to learn more about this stuff._ Charlie felt the shiver all the way down his back.

_Damn It! If I don't stop talking to myself, I will be convinced I'm crazy. But not yet. I've been over this and over this in my head. Now I'm driving out there to see for myself._

_At least, if I really am going crazy, Dr. Cullen will be able to help me. I'm sure he's got something in his little black bag . . . _

Charlie stopped the car right in front of the porch. _Please let somebody be home. This had better be true. I really can't handle it if it's not. Maybe my house is haunted. Bella always had such nightmares. Maybe I've caught them now since she's left. Yeah, I know, that sounds even more crazy than the part where Jake changed into a wolf. Well, the moment of truth . . . _

Charlie opened his car door.

Xxx


End file.
